Bill Seely’s Response to the Decision

Bill Seely, the Executive Director of USA Cheer, sent this response to the Quinnipiac University Ruling:

I want to share some thoughts on today’s ruling by the judge in the Quinnipiac trial that stated the current competition-only cheerleading team at the school did not meet Title IX requirements to be classified as an intercollegiate sport. As you know, we believe cheerleading is highly athletic and is a sport in the general sense. We respect the decision of the Court in this case, and agree that steps need to be taken to build the organizational structure. We believe that we are close to establishing an intercollegiate sport with a distinctive new name and competition format.

As I noted in my last letter, we’ve been working with colleagues within the entire cheerleading community to develop a new competitive format that we believe will not only allow it to be recognized as an intercollegiate sport, but will also help clearly differentiate it from traditional cheerleading. We feel this is critical to ensure differences between traditional school cheerleading squads and new, collegiate “competition-only” teams so that bothcan exist and prosper.

The new format we are developing involves a new name and a change from the current 2.5 minute competition structure, to help make the necessary distinctions between traditional school cheerleading squads and the new sport.

We believe our plans will meet the requirements of Title IX, work within the college calendar, and will be structured so that it can have strong participation from schools across the country. We will announce more details in the near future.

This is a critical moment in the evolution of cheerleading at the collegiate level, and we are eager to drive this forward to the benefit of the entire cheer community.

Sheryl, since cheerleading is not a sport there are no standard nationwide requirements for cheerleaders to comply with NCAA eligibility requirements. I believe the universities that have their cheerleading program under the Athletic Department have their cheerleader meet NCAA eligibility requirement, excluding going through the NCAA Clearinghouse, but that is a decision the school made.

Sheryl, since cheerleading is not a sport there are no standard nationwide requirements for cheerleaders to comply with NCAA eligibility requirements. I believe the universities that have their cheerleading program under the Athletic Department have their cheerleader meet NCAA eligibility requirement, excluding going through the NCAA Clearinghouse, but that is a decision the school made.